RCS - Oxford Nanopore Tech - Study unlocks insights into disease and longevity

Oxford Nanopore TechnologiesAnnouncement

12/04/2024 13:00

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RNS Number : 4857K  Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc  12 April 2024

 

Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc

New nanopore-based research unlocks insights into disease and longevity

 

12 April 2024

Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc (LSE: ONT) ("Oxford Nanopore"), the company
delivering a new generation of nanopore-based molecular sensing technology,
today announces the publication of a breakthrough study unlocking new ways to
measure the length of human telomeres - the "DNA caps" at the ends of
chromosomes that make up genomes - using nanopore-based sequencing, providing
key insights into the correlation between telomeres and age-related disease or
predisposition to cancer.

 

For the first time, in a new publication in the journal Science
(https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado0431) , a team led by Nobel
Prize winner Dr. Carol Greider of UC Santa Cruz was able to measure and
profile telomere length by using Oxford Nanopore's precise sequencing
technology. Greider believes these regions, and the proteins that bind there,
could serve as potential targets for preventive health and drug discovery
efforts.

 

Over the past 30 years, research by Greider and others has confirmed that
short telomeres can lead to degenerative disease, long telomeres predispose
one to cancer, and that telomere lengths can vary significantly. However, the
detailed mechanism of length regulation has been poorly understood until
now.

 

As part of this study, the team of scientists examined the individual telomere
lengths of 147 people and found the same telomeres were often the shortest or
longest. This means that telomeres on specific chromosome ends may be the
first to trigger stem-cell failure -offering insight into specific targets for
more clinical study and possible drug discovery research.

 

This breakthrough research was only made possible because of Oxford Nanopore's
unique features, which for the first-time enabled scientists to see long
telomere-length reads at ultra-rich, nearly single nucleotide resolution. This
capability has led to an increase in telomere-based interest. In November
2023, a team led by Oxford Nanopore and the Karlseder lab at Salk Institute
for Biological Studies published a pre-print
(https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.28.569082v1) demonstrating
the utility of a new workflow, Telo-seq, to study telomere biology during
development, aging and cancer at unprecedented resolution.

 

 

Gordon Sanghera, CEO of Oxford Nanopore, commented:

 

"Today marks a significant milestone not just for Oxford Nanopore but for the
field of genomics. This breakthrough illustrates that what you're missing
matters in genomics, showcasing the benefits of richer insights to capture
more types of genetic variation and unravel the mysteries of biology. It's
also a step towards new healthcare solutions, offering novel avenues for the
prevention and treatment of age-related diseases and cancer. We are proud to
be at the forefront of this research, empowering scientists worldwide with
tools that unlock unprecedented genomic insight."

 

 

 ENDS 

 

For further information, please contact:

Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc

Investors:        ir@nanoporetech.com (mailto:ir@nanoporetech.com)

Media:             media@nanoporetech.com
(mailto:media@nanoporetech.com)

 

Teneo (communications adviser to the Company)

Tom Murray, Olivia Peters

+44 (0) 20 7353 4200

OxfordNanoporeTechnologies@teneo.com
(mailto:OxfordNanoporeTechnologies@teneo.com)

 

About Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc:

Oxford Nanopore Technologies' goal is to bring the widest benefits to society
through enabling the analysis of anything, by anyone, anywhere. The company
has developed a new generation of nanopore-based sensing technology that is
currently used for real-time, high-performance, accessible, and scalable
analysis of DNA and RNA.  The technology is used in more than 120 countries,
to understand the biology of humans, plants, animals, bacteria, viruses and
environments as well as to understand diseases such as cancer.  Oxford
Nanopore's technology also has the potential to provide broad, high impact,
rapid insights in a number of areas including healthcare, food and
agriculture.

For more information please visit: www.nanoporetech.com
(http://www.nanoporetech.com)

 

Forward-looking statements

This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements. For example,
statements regarding expected revenue growth and profit margins are
forward-looking statements. Phrases such as "aim", "plan", "expect", "intend",
"anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "target", and similar expressions of a
future or forward-looking nature should also be considered forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements address our expected future business
and financial performance and financial condition, and by definition address
matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. Our results could be
affected by macroeconomic conditions, the COVID-19 pandemic, delays in our
receipt of components or our delivery of products to our customers,
suspensions of large projects and/or acceleration of large products or
accelerated adoption of pathogen surveillance. These or other uncertainties
may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those
expressed in our forward-looking statements.

 

 

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